Review

The effortless gesture, the work of Aligna Sadakhom.

No statement is more obvious than asserting that the sensibility and character of artists are reflected in their work; on the other hand no statement would be more appropriate if we compare the multifaceted profile of an artist like Aligna to his work. It is both cutting and light, sharp and tender, necessary as Nature is and like Nature, with no pretension, constantly representing.

Aligna’s gaze is permeated with the necessities and restrictions of everyday’s life, limitations which encourage practical ingeniousness. It is the child’s look which everyday gives new life to a tin toy. It is the spectator’s wondrous gaze in front of the natural spectacle of the Norwegian fjords, conscious that nature is and will always be stronger in its confrontation with men.

From recycled material, the leftovers of a shortsighted society, new life is created day after day. Aligna’s flowers and trees and shrubs and lawns do no simulate nature, they don’t decorate a space: in their juxtaposition with nature they go back to being nature itself as if tanks, tin and metal tubes produced by human technology regressed to being siliceous, iron, water, fire. With his craft the artist models the metal sheet into a petal and “naturally” gives form to a new species. The work we admire does not reproduce existing species but creates new ones.

The observers marvel at the new discovery, sure that they’ll be the first to be able to observe all the details, as they are simply raptured by the poetry of this marvellous landscape.

That is why, I imagine, that Aligna prefers to locate his installations in wild places and locations, where the comparison with a “strong nature” is total: a dialog between equals

during which buds of iron, steel and paint sprout and die within a few hours; just the necessary time for a few photos, then the same hand which has seeded will pick and cut.

Aligna describes his work with an almost disarming simplicity, determined to let the work speak for itself. The several conversations we have about our common interests make us reflect on the necessity of changing point of view to better understand the relation between land art and landscape architecture, aiming as we both are to better comprehend the world surrounding us.